'When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses not zebras' - the old adage is well-known to GPs but what should you do when faced with a zebra, not a horse? Consultant cardiologist Professor Robert Tulloh and GP Dr Louise Tulloh kick off our new series with their advice on how to catch Kawasaki disease in general practice.

GP returners set for funding boost as NHS overhauls scheme

GPs who return to the NHS after a career break will be given monthly bursaries of £3,500 while retraining, an increase of more than £1,000 a month on the existing scheme.

NHS England announced the overhaul of the 'Induction and Refresher scheme', which provides financial and administrative support for GPs coming to NHS practice after a career break or from overseas, after Pulse revealed significant problems with the original scheme.

The monthly bursary to support GPs on their supervised placement has been increased from £2,300 to £3,500 and there will be new funding to help cover indemnity and professional registration costs.

It will also provide returning GPs with dedicated support to help complete paperwork, occupational health assessments and coordinating their placements.

NHS England has also said that the scheme will be more 'flexible', and it has changed requirements so that ‘suitably trained and experieinced’ GPs don’t need to go through its processes.

The BMA has been involved in the redesign and GP leaders today welcomed the announcement.

This comes after Pulse revealed that entry exams which were supposed to allow UK trained GPs to return directly to practise were actually forcing 99% of doctors to undergo a supervised placement.

The Induction and Refresher scheme was one of the measures in NHS England’s ten-point plan for GP workforce, intended to address the mixed bag of returners’ schemes around the country – some of which had no funding support.

A £1,250 bursary, available until 31 October 2018, to help with indemnity costs.

In the same period, £464 in dunding towards GMC membership and DBS checks.

Scrapping of the £1,000 assessment fees for applicants, which was previously reimbursed upon completion of the scheme.

New funding so that assessments can be run bi-monthly instead of quarterly

Introduced in March 2015, the scheme requires qualified GP returners to undergo an initial assessment and those meeting the top grade (Band 5) could return directly to practice.

Those who achieved a Band 4 or Band 3 score in the exams have to do placements of three, and six months, respectively

But Pulse revealed correspondence showing the programme had intented that ‘a GP with previous UK experience in the NHS as a GP who has been working overseas in an equivalent primary system to the NHS would normally be screened out of needing further assessments.’

Another GP in the doctor-strapped North East warned she had been put off returning because the bursary wasn't enough to support her family.

But now, NHS England has said that ‘over the next few months’ they will develop a new framework ‘so that suitably qualified and experienced doctors can be added to the Medical Performers List without the need to complete the I&R process.’

Dr Krishna Kasaraneni, BMA lead on education, training and workforce, said: 'One of the key factors undermining general practice in the past few years has been the mounting workforce crisis that has left many GP practices without enough GPs to deliver an effective service to patients. An important issue has been the ongoing and completely unavoidable barriers that are put in place of GPs returning to work after taking a career breaks or leaving the NHS for short periods. We cannot afford to have highly skilled professionals sitting on the side lines at a time when patient demand is rocketing.

'The BMA has worked with the government to design fresh induction and retention schemes that are properly funded. The latest revisions announced today are to be welcomed as a further step forward in this process. The BMA’s GP committee will not rest until we make the process of working in NHS general practice a straight forward one and an attractive one.”

Rosamond Roughton, NHS England’s director of commissioning, said: ‘We are responding directly to the concerns of the profession and implementing immediate, practical ways of helping GPs and those returning to a profession that remains one of the most rewarding careers in medicine.’

NHSE looking to revive zombies. Does look like a sequel of Freddie and night of the zombies. No disrespect to retired colleagues or returners but this is not going to make a difference. Those with common sense are better off doing 3-6 month locum stints in Oz or NZ which can be easily arranged and having a nice holiday as well at the end.

Money is not the answer, it is the terms and conditions placed on that return. The job is stressful enough without being chased for appraisal, recreditation and subsequent revalidation, often by junior professionals, sometimes of questionable ability. Who just want to tick boxes. This being accompanied by higher level of litigation accompanied by the Machiavellian and draconian stance of the GMC.Add to this the hyperbolic increase in indemnity fees, particularly for out of hours services.Look at the logic political leaders, and medical leaders, I am feeling that there are some learning difficulty problems in all of your departments.

This has been going on for so many years and so many have suffered. I and others have been calling for sense about this for years and to at least allow former UK GPs to return without being excessively penalised. The 2015 scheme, although we now learn it was designed to do that, has totally failed in that aim.

The members of the former COGPED should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves for having put in this wrong-headed system and supported it against all rational argument, but I am sure they are not. GP educationalists hold the profession hostage and their nonsense goes unchallenged.

After 10 years of GP about to leave for the middle-east to practice GP. On researching about the requirements to remain on the performers list, I find that the RCGP in conjunction with another useless body have set a 50 session/yr in the U.K. requirement to be deemed safe. The alternative is a portfolio route, where a panel of academics assess your evidence before being allowed onto a 1 month assessment job. Well this is even less incentive to come back, may as well push it out till retirement. Those who have trained juniors using ep will understand that this would be great heart sinking prospect.